“How long are you going to keep us in suspense?”
Jn 10:24
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
(Even “the few”)
Pope Francis waves as he leads the “Regina Coeli” from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 25, 2021. The pope prayed for the victims of a fire at a Baghdad hospital and also for migrants who drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
In recent homilies Bishop Patrick J. Zurek has put forth the Encyclical of Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, as the standard for love and unity in our diocese. Today, let’s reflect upon paragraph #197 in that regard:
CHAPTER 5
A BETTER KIND OF POLITICS
FRUITFULLNESS OVER RESULTS
197. The United Catholic Appeal (UCA) should be something more noble than posturing, marketing and media spin. These sow nothing but division, conflict and a bleak cynicism incapable of mobilizing people to pursue a common goal.
People walk through the interior of the Ibn Khatib hospital in Baghdad April 25, 2021, after a fire the previous day caused by an oxygen tank explosion. At least 82 people were killed by the fire. (CNS photo/Thaier Al-Sudani, Reuters)
At times, in thinking of the future, we do well to ask ourselves, “Why I am doing this?”, “What is my real aim?” For as time goes on, reflecting on the past, the questions will not be: “How many parishes pledged their quota?”, “How much do parishes owe on their quota?”, “How many have a positive image of the UCA?”
A patient wearing an oxygen mask lies inside a vehicle while waiting to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad, India, April 26, 2021. (CNS photo/Amit Dave, Reuters)
The real, and potentially painful, questions will be, “How much love did the UCA put into it’s work?” “What did the UCA do for the progress of our diocese?” “What mark did the UCA leave on the life of the diocese?” “What real bonds did the UCA create?” “What positive forces did the UCA unleash?” “How much social peace did the UCA sow?” “What good did the UCA achieve?”
Martin Doblmeier interviews Susannah Heschel, featured in Doblmeier’s 2021 documentary “Spiritual Audacity: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story.” Susannah Heschel is a professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and a daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a moral theologian and expert on the prophets who also played a key role in Jewish-Catholic relations and the Vatican II document on that topic. (CNS photo/courtesy Journey Films)
I ask you to prayerfully consider supporting this splendid work of the Lord. I am so grateful for our shared faith and belief in the need for our ministries.
Bishop Patrick J. Zurek
My prayer for today is that our diocesan shepherd will hear our Good Shepherd’s voice and unbound us from the, “posturing, marketing and media spin”, of the “Quota”; and make the UCA truly a “noble” and “splendid work of the Lord”, in which we “Abound in Hope”, by way of our “Pledged Amount”.
